A typical cellular wireless communication system or network includes a number of antenna systems that radiate radio frequency (RF) radiation patterns to define wireless coverage areas, such as cells and cell sectors. The antenna systems or base stations are in turn coupled to one or another form of controller, which can be coupled to a telecommunications switch or gateway. The switch or gateway may then be coupled with a transport network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a packet-switched network (e.g., the Internet).
A user equipment device (UE), such as a cell phone, tablet computer, tracking device, embedded wireless module, and other wirelessly equipped communication devices, can operate in the cells defined by the radiation patterns from the base stations. With the typical wireless communication system described above, a communication channel or link can be established between the UE and the transport network, via the base station, controller, switch or gateway, and possibly other elements. Thus, a UE operating within a coverage area of a base station can engage in air interface communication with the base station and can thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other UEs.
In general, the wireless communication system may operate in accordance with a particular air interface protocol or radio access technology. Examples of existing air interface protocols include CDMA (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), LTE (e.g., FDD LTE and TDD LTE), WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, MMDS, WI-FI, and BLUETOOTH. Each protocol may define its own procedures for initiation of communications, establishment of communication links, release of communication links, handoff between coverage areas, and other functions related to air interface communication.
Further, depending on the specific underlying technologies, protocols, and architecture of a given wireless communication system, the various elements of the system may take different forms and may make up different portions of the wireless communication system. In one example, the base stations, the communication devices, and possibly other elements generally make up a radio access network (RAN) portion of the system. Further, in the present example, the controllers, switches, gateways, and perhaps other elements generally make up a core network portion of the system. Although, in practice, different elements may overlap in one or more portions of the wireless communication system.
Illustratively, in an LTE system, the base station is usually referred to as an eNodeB and a mobility management entity (MME) can be coupled to the eNodeB to coordinate functionality between multiple eNodeBs. Each MME and eNodeB can also be coupled to a serving gateway (SGW) and/or a packet gateway (PGW). In a CDMA system, the base station is referred to as a base transceiver system (BTS) and the BTS is usually under the control of a base station controller (BSC). Further, each BSC can be coupled to a mobile switching center (MSC) and/or a packet data serving node (PDSN) for instance. Other architectures and operational configurations of the wireless communication system are possible as well.